CS 420 Data Communication Systems

Total Credits: 3 cr

Course Coordinator: Axel Krings

URL: http://www.cs.uidaho.edu/~krings/CS420/index.html

Current Catalog Description: Concepts and terminology of data communications, equipment, protocols (including ISO/OSI and TCP/IP), architectures; transmission alternatives, regulatory issues and network management.  Prereq: CS 150 and CS 240.

Textbook: William Stallings, Data and Computer Communications, 7th Edition, Prentice Hall. .

References: In addition to the book the course relies on an extensive set of instructor prepared lecture handouts available at the course web site and material provided at the publisher's web site: http://williamstallings.com/DCC/DCC7e.html

Course Goals: This course addresses the theory and fundamental concepts of data communication systems. The student is exposed to the standard set of topics covered by the major authors in the field, including: protocol architectures, OSI Layers, TCP/IP architecture, Nyquist and Shannon theorems, signal encoding, modulation, error detection codes, data link control protocols, digital carrier systems, switched communication networks, circuit switching, control signaling, ATM, virtual channels and paths, routing in circuit-switching and packet-switching networks, congestion control, cellular wireless networks, LANs, bridges, Layer 2 and 3 switches, high-speed LANs, Ethernet, Internet Protocol, multicasting, IP routing protocols, transport protocols, and address resolution protocol.

Prerequisites by Topic:

CS 150 Computer Organization & Architecture, CS 240 Operating Systems, and specifically:

• Mastery of basic concepts in computer organization and architecture
• Working knowledge of Unix and MS operating systems
• Programming ability

Major Topics Covered in the Course:

• Data communication and networking overview, protocol architecture (3 hours) (NC1, NC2)
• Data transmission (3 hours) (NC2)
• Guided and wireless transmission (2 hours) (NC2)
• Signal encoding techniques (2 hours) (NC2)
• Digital data communication techniques (2 hours) (NC2)
• Data link control (3 hours) (AR9)
• Multiplexing (2 hours) (NC2)
• Spread spectrum (1 hour) (NC2)
• Circuit switching and packet switching (2 hours) (AR9)
• Asynchronous transfer mode (2 hours) (AR9)
• Routing in switched networks (2 hours) (AR9)
• Congestion control in switched data networks (2 hours) (AR9)
• Cellular wireless networks (2 hours) (NC9)
• Local area networks, high-speed LANs (3 hours) (AR9)
• Wireless LANs (2 hours) (NC9)
• Internet protocols and operation (3 hours) (AR9)
• Transport protocols (2 hours) (AR9)
• Distributed applications and network security ( 2 hours) (AR9, SP5, NC3)

Laboratory projects (specify number of weeks on each): None.

Estimated Curriculum Category Content:

Area	Core	Advanced	Area	Core	Advanced
Algorithms		1	Data Structures
Software Design		1	Prog. Languages
Computer Arch		1	Other

Oral and Written Communications: Every student is required to submit four written reports answering/solving a list of problems related to the course. Besides the technical aspects, professionalism and completeness of the assignments are considered.

Social and Ethical Issues: A general discussion of social and ethical issues related to the Internet are included in association with appropriate technical topics. Implications of adverse behavior and technical solutions to control them, as well as the limitations of technical solutions, are addressed.

Theoretical Content:

• Electrical signaling
• Information theory
• Coding theory
• Graph and routing algorithms

Problem Analysis: Four sets of problems are assigned. Many of the problem in the sets require problem analysis, derivations, and computations. Problem sets cover the following area: physical communication, data encoding and transmission, switching and routing, network design.

Solution Design: Design a network to service and entire building. Using information available on the WWW, investigate available hardware that can support your design, then select specific hardware to implement your design.

Course Outcomes: The following list documents the course outcomes and crossreferences them to the BSCS program outcomes. The letter at the beginning of each reference identifies the program outcome supported. The numbers sequentially identify the course outcome for this course. After completing CS zzz a student should know or be able to: